Mistake #1 looking at homes without being PRE-Qualified / PRE- approved
Many people look at houses? find one they like and then find out a
lender will not approve them for a Home Loan. Before you look at homes?
get pre-qualified! A Realtor can assist you in determining how much
house you can afford or a mortgage broker can ?officially? pre-qualify
and get you pre-approved for a specific loan amount. When you get
?officially? pre-approved for a home mortgage before you find a home to
buy, you are certain that you will get the home because you are already
approved for the loan! Additionally when you find the home you want,
your Realtor can present a letter of your loan approval with the
Contract of Sale. This pre-approval letter may help you in negotiating a
better price for the home or insure the seller selects your contract in
the event other Realtors have submitted a contract on the same home you
want. (This happens frequently in a good housing market.) Ask your
mortgage broker to get you pre-qualified and pre-approved before you
look at houses? do it today!
Mistake #2 Not having a personal meeting with a REALTOR
Do you want to find the perfect home? Do you want to get your best buy?
Perhaps even a property where you are the only person or first person to
look at it? You must have a personal face to face meeting with the
Realtor you want to work for you. When you only speak with a Realtor
over the phone one of three things will happen. First, the Realtor will
try to ?sell you? on the home you called about (Which means They are
more interested in their commission than You!) Second, you have someone
ask you what you are looking for and then they don’t follow up with you.
Third, you tell them what you are looking for? you drive by it and it’s
not what you want. Do any of these sound familiar? A Realtor works on
commission only. The seller pays the commission. The new real estate
agent, the inexperienced agent or the non Professional agent will say
they will help you with only a phone call? Is that who you want working
for you? The experienced professional real estate agent will insist on a
personal face to face meeting or tell you up front they will not work
with you. Additionally the experienced professional will probably insist
on an exclusive buyer agency agreement. When you and/or your spouse meet
with a Realtor face to face you develop a relationship and rapport.
Additionally the Realtor gets a chance to know you personally, which
enhances the Realtor’s ability to pin point the right community and home
for you. If you meet with a Realtor face to face and don’t feel good
about them, meet with another Realtor rather than just talking with them
on the phone? Have a Personal meeting.
Mistake #3 Working with the ?wrong? Real Estate Agent
In Real Estate Training Seminars that Realtors attend it is often joked
that many Real Estate agents are perceived to be one step below a used
car salesman. You want to make sure the Realtor that you work with takes
the following actions? The ?right? Real Estate Agent will Meet with you
in person, and spend 45 minutes to 1-? hours with you conducting a
thorough initial consultation. They will probably insist on this meeting
or not help you at all. The “wrong” Agent will take information from you
over the phone and not meet with you in person. The ?right? Agent will
ask you lots and lots of questions about you personally, your lifestyle,
your family, your leisure activity, your priorities, your experience in
buying homes, your likes & dislikes and more. The ?Wrong? Agent will not
have you get pre-approved first. The “right” Agent will have you enter
into a buyer’s Agency Agreement for your benefit?. The ?Right? Agent
will show you the different neighborhoods first? The ?Wrong? Agent will
show you individual Houses first. The ?Right? Agent knows the market and
housing prices? The ?Right? Agent has a Team of experts and specialists
that can be called on to take care of all the different aspects of
buying a home?. The ?Right? Agent is responsive to your phone calls and
emails and keep you fully informed of all aspects of the home purchase
from signing of the purchase agreement through closing. The ?Right?
Realtor will stay in touch with you after you have bought the home and
be able to recommend other people and businesses to provide proper
services to you personally and for your home. The ?Right? Agent doesn’t
try to sell you a home, they educate you, they listen, they provide
advice, answer questions and tells the truth.
Mistake #4 Finding a home you like, and then ?sleeping on it".
Have you ever shopped for a car, clothes, or other things and then told
a salesperson that you wanted to ?Think about it? or ?Sleep on it?? With
most consumer items going home and then deciding later is ok. There will
probably be another car come off the assembly line and the shoes will
still be there tomorrow. Buying a home is not like buying any other
consumer item. Each home and the land it sits on is completely unique
and a one of a kind. The view, elevation, location, decorating, price,
terms, availability, improvements, or other Features are either
individually or in combination with others totally unique to that
individual property. If you miss that one special property there will
not be another one like it EVER! When the market, neighborhood,
community or individual property are in great demand it is not unusual
for more than one contract to be submitted. Sometimes three, four or
more are submitted on the same house. When you see a home you really
like don’t be offended if the Realtor suggests that you write up a
purchase agreement right on the spot. When looking for a home, trust
your instincts not your intellect. If it feels right do it? and do it
quickly before someone else does. If you have concerns such as the
properties condition handle that with a clause in the purchase agreement
not by ?Thinking or sleeping on it.? Act quickly don’t lose the home
that you really love.
Mistake #5 Making a low offer
Buying Real Estate is not like buying a car. You can haggle over the
price of a car for days or weeks and another one will come off the
assembly line just like the one you are negotiating to purchase. Real
Estate is unique. They aren’t making any more land. The exact location,
view, features, elevation, landscaping, improvements etc. of any one
home are totally unique to that property. You might say, ?Well if I
offer too low we can always come up?? Not Necessarily! Sometimes a low
offer offends a seller and they refuse to counter offer at all. At other
times a seller will counter offer but it takes time to go back and
forth. While you play the game offer, counter offer, offer; counter
offer another contract higher than asking from another buyer is
submitted. If the new purchaser offers a better price than you do or
even if it is equal to yours, the seller may accept the new contract. In
other words if you make a low offer you may not even get the chance to
raise your price. My advice is to make your first offer your best offer.
I’ll even suggest that you consider offering more than the full price!
For a new listing or when other people are looking at the same property,
offering more than full price may be the insurance or leverage you need
to get the home that you really want. Oh, by the way if you or your
spouse, or your children really don’t care if you lose the house, then
go ahead and make a low offer. Remember unless you are paying all cash
for your home, the home will require a lender appraisal. This Appraisal
will insure that you don’t have to pay more than the property is worth!
Additionally make sure you are working with one realtor under an
exclusive buyer’s agent Agreement. Your realtor can then advise you of
any circumstances about the seller’s motivation, the property or the
housing market that would provide the circumstances where you would want
to make a low offer. P.S. a low offer is anything less than the asking
price.
Mistake #6 Buying a home without a home inspection
How would you feel if you bought a home and then shortly thereafter you
found structural damage, the roof leaked, or the home didn’t have
adequate insulation? Are you a building contractor? Do you want to crawl
through the attic, under the house, or look for structural problems?
Even if you have some knowledge of houses you probably don’t want to do
these things. When you find a home that you like it might be new
construction that has a warranty and therefore you don’t need a home
inspection. On the other hand the home you want to buy could be a resale
home that is 10 years, 20 years or more than 50 years old. When you look
at a home and have any concerns about the condition of any part of the
home, don’t ask your Brother-in law to look at it and don’t leave saying
you need to think about it or not even consider it. When you like a home
and have some concerns about it, sign a contract to buy it immediately!
Include in the contract however, a home inspection contingency. This
contingency In the contract will allow you to have your ?Cake and Eat it
too.? By immediately entering into a contract with the home inspection
contingency you take the home off the market. Plus you have time to hire
a professional home inspector to check out the property. If the
inspection is not to your satisfaction you may declare the contract null
& void and receive a full refund of your deposit. Hire a professional
home inspector to protect your interests. Your Realtor can recommend a
qualified firm to you.
MISTAKE #7 BUYING A HOME WITHOUT A HOME WARRANTY
When you purchase a new car, a new dishwasher, a new lawnmower, you
expect and receive a warranty. When you purchase a new construction home
most builders offer a warranty. When you purchase a resale home you also
can obtain a home warranty. How would you feel if your refrigerator,
heating and cooling system or stove stopped working 30 days after you
purchased the home? Some sellers offer to pay for and offer a one-year
warranty on their home when they list it for sale. If the seller does
not volunteer to offer you a warranty you might request the seller to do
so when you write the purchase agreement. If the seller doesn’t offer it
or won’t pay for it, you may purchase a home warranty yourself. A home
warranty may not be required for every home. Look at the age of the
mechanical components and ask your Realtor if the seller is offering a
warranty. You may not need it, but it certainly would give you some
peace of mind wouldn’t it?
Mistake #8 Having a small deposit with your Purchase agreement
It would probably seem logical from your point of view to have a small
deposit when submitting a contract to purchase a home. If your contract
is not accepted your deposit check will be given back to you, and if
your contract is accepted you will only have a small amount of your
money ?Tied up? until closing, or if you change your mind later you only
have a small amount of money at risk. From a home seller and Realtor’s
point of view, a small deposit may work against you. A small deposit may
indicate to the seller that you are not serious about purchasing the
property; have little to lose if you do change your mind and want to
?Back Out? of the contract; create the possibility that the seller will
counter offer your contract and ask for a larger deposit or be rejected
outright or not selected in the event multiple contracts are
simultaneously presented to the seller. A large deposit lets both the
seller and Realtor know that you are serious, qualified and have
something to lose in the event you later changed your mind and wanted to
?Back Out? of the contract. Ask your realtor how much a large deposit
would be for the price range property you are looking to purchase.
MISTAKE #9 WAITING TO BUY
Almost always under all circumstances the best time to buy is now. What
is your reason to wait? Are you waiting until you save more money? While
you are saving up more money the price of the home you want to buy is
going up thousands of dollars. The home will probably be rising 2-5
times the rate of your savings money You loose by waiting! Are you
waiting until interest rates come down? Even if the interest rate does
drop chances are your monthly payments will increase because the price
of the home has increased. Are you waiting until you can afford your
dream home? The best way to obtain your dream home is to buy something
Anything now! After several years, sell it and buy another and then
repeat the process. Most people never get their dream home until their
3rd to 6th house. The earlier you start to build equity and allow
potential appreciation to work for you, the sooner you will get your
dream home. Either buy something now or stop looking! The number one
reason people don’t buy and keep on looking is FEAR. Fear that they
can’t afford it or fear of making a wrong decision. The only decision
that may be wrong would be not buying today. Almost all buyers are
afraid of something, however they take their fear with them and buy
anyway. When you look back many years down the road, you will wish you
would have bought sooner and moved up to another house sooner!
It would be a privilege for me to help you buy a home.
I’ll make sure I protect you every step of the way.
I look forward to your email or phone call
Maria Scors 973-610-1909
eMail:
MariaScors@NJHomesMove.com
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